Bulletins and News Discussion from September 16th to September 22nd, 2024 - This Megathread Is Dedicated To The Brave Mujahideen Fighters of Afghanistan - COTW: Afghanistan

Image is of China's ambassador to Afghanistan, Zhao Sheng, meeting Taliban Prime Minister Hasan Akhund in September 2023.

I know the Rambo title card is a hoax.

The COTW was chosen in the wake of the aborted sequel to the attempted assassination of Trump being performed by a guy who is VERY enthusiastic about Ukraine, to the point of trying to sneak Afghan soldiers into Ukraine by setting up a house in Pakistan to house them and then further transport them. He also apparently offered to send thousands of Afghan soldiers to Haiti to help them combat gang violence. Whomst among us doesn't have the numbers of thousands of Afghan soldiers on speed-dial. Do you reckon there's a group chat?

Anyway, while there is still no official recognition of the Taliban's government by any country, China has taken a different course than the late USSR and the US - forming economic in-roads, rather than trying their own invasion. This has been a big boon for the struggling country, with various mines and oil and agriculture deals helping keep things barely afloat. A total disintegration of the social fabric of Afghanistan is not in the interest of any of the powers that border it - China, Pakistan, and Iran, with Russia not too far away - so an interesting dynamic of helping-without-official-recognition has been established. I wonder who will be the first country to fully recognize them?

The COTW (Country of the Week) label is designed to spur discussion and debate about a specific country every week in order to help the community gain greater understanding of the domestic situation of often-understudied nations. If you've wanted to talk about the country or share your experiences, but have never found a relevant place to do so, now is your chance! However, don't worry - this is still a general news megathread where you can post about ongoing events from any country.

The Country of the Week is Afghanistan! Feel free to chime in with books, essays, longform articles, even stories and anecdotes or rants. More detail here.

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Last week's thread is here.

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By the fucking way, does poland still ban abortion? I remembered their great euro party was elected to dump that law, but i'm checking it now and its still banned?
It does, fucking incredible:
On July 12, however, Tusk suffered what looks like an ominous defeat when a parliamentary vote to stop prosecuting people who assist with abortions failed — by a wafer-thin 218-to-215 margin — because of conservatives within his ruling coalition.
Coming to democrats near you, seppos
- But i wanted to ask, has iranian president done something with woman modesty or whatever they are called laws?
  
  Or is he knee-deep in trying to make deals again, forgetting his electorate? Although maybe they were more anti-corruption, which makes deal making make sense
  
  Pez boy got and will get nothing done, useless ass
  
  I hoped he would have done stuff for women tbh, at least remove policing
  
  Did you have any reason to think he would get anything done or is this just hope?
  
  Ah, mainly that he was allowed to run by irg (and he gestured at that stuff). My thinking was, irg saw protest, realized it’s a dumb thing to torch the country on, and got a very convenient way to solve it: like look people, we have democracy, we can change with wishes from the public (as I understand people in iran become disinterested in electoral politics, and that’s a troubling sign for government)

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